Introduction to Food Engineering

Home Syllabus
Material Balances Energy Balances
Fluids Laminar and Turbulent Flow Volumetric Flow and Friction Bernoulli's Equation and Pump Power Flow Measurement
Thermodynamic Properties
Modes of heat transfer Conduction in walls Conduction in multilayered walls Convection heat transfer Forced Convection Free Convection Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient Heat Exchangers Unsteady State Heat Transfer Heisler Charts
Decimal Reduction Time F value General Method Improved General Method
Properties of Air and Water Vapor Psychrometric Chart
Moisture Content and Drying Rates Drying Time
Single Effect Evaporator Multiple Effect and Industrial Evaporators
Refrigerants Vapor Compression Refrigeration System Ideal and Non-Ideal Cycle
Ice Crystallization Freezing Time Freezer Selection
Instructions List of Experiments

Ice Crystallization - Nucelation and Crystal Growth

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

  1. describe the ice crystallizaion process
  2. describe homogenous and heterogenous nuclation
  3. describe ice crystal growth and its influence on food quality

In this module, we will examine the ice crystallization process. You will learn about the formation of nuclei and crystal growth and how to obtain small ice crystals during freezing. In the first video, you will learn about the nucleation process and homogenous nucleation.

In the following video, you will learn the factors that influence the nucleation process. The number of nuclei formed during this stage has an impact on the size of ice crystals later as the freezing process progresses.

After the formation of nuclei, the next stage in the crystallization process is the growth of ice crystals. In the following video, you will learn about crystal growth.

Frozen food quality is often associated with the size of the ice crystals. In the next video, you will learn about the ice crystal size and how to control it.

Recap

In this module, you learned the mechanistic steps involved in the ice crystallization process. You learned the role of nucleation and ice crystal growth on the number and size of ice crystals formed during the freezing process.